Sustain 3S03 Course Report | Fall 2015 A Letter from the Senior Manager
In September 2015, another fantastic cohort of students took part in Sustain 3S03 – Implementing Sustainable Change. Students from 5 faculties and the Arts & Science Program engaged in interdisciplinary, community-based, student-led, and experiential education related to sustainability.
Led by instructor Dr. Michael Mikulak, with support from Teaching Assis- tants Crystal Chan, Mariano Colicchio, and Elise Desjardins, students had the opportunity to examine the concept of sustainability by focusing on specific case studies and examples in relation to larger questions of power, knowledge, and human and non-human agency. Lectures, tutorials, and assignments were focused on developing truly interdisciplinary conver- sations that consider the different techniques and tools society has at its disposal for addressing the environmental crisis.
To complement their theoretical knowledge of sustainability, students undertook an experiential learning project of their choosing. During the first week of classes, 50 students formed 13 project groups based on their individual interests in sustainability. To offer support, guidance, and ensure students had the opportunity to work with members of the McMaster and broader community, 12 individuals formally accepted the role of Community Project Champion by offering their time, resources, and expert knowledge to assist students in achieving their project goals. Additionally, countless members of the community participated in events, provided feedback through consultation, and offered mentorship. The tremendous amount of community support and engagement is illustrated by each group in the pages to follow under the heading of Collaborators.
As you read this report, you will notice that the breadth of student interests related to sustainability is far reaching. Projects range from increasing the biodiversity of a small-scale organic farm, supporting the formation of a new cycling organization in Hamilton, conducting surveys and analyzing results to enhance the Bruce Trail, to analyzing bike parking inventory and making recommendations to the City of Hamilton.
I hope you enjoy reading this report as much as I have enjoyed my experience in working with the individuals who have created it.
Kate Whalen Senior Manager, Academic Sustainability Programs Mission
McMaster developed the Sustainable Future Program for students interested in learning about sustainability while having the opportunity to engage in experiential learning through developing and implementing real-world sustainability initiatives. The Sustainable Future Program (SFP) aims to build reciprocal relationships between students, community members and McMaster University to engage all parties in the journey towards a sustainable future.
Guiding Principles
The guiding principles of the Sustainable Future Program are as follows
• Teach students about sustainability from an interdisciplinary perspective. • Provide the opportunity for self-directed, interdisciplinary and experiential learning. • Support student learning within the University and local community. • Engage undergraduate students in taking part in meaningful, experiential research. • Foster opportunities for students to place local knowledge and local action within a global context.
- Sustain 3S03 Course Report | Fall 2015
Table of Contents
From the Class of 2015: Sustain 3S03 – Implementing Sustainable Change City of Hamilton Bike Parking Inventory and Analysis...... 4 Community Carshare at McMaster...... 5 Hamilton Burlington Trails...... 6 Supporting the Formation of Cycle Hamilton...... 7 Small Farm Biodiversity and Pollinator Habitat...... 8 Communicating Sustainability in a Healthcare Setting...... 9 Waste Management at McMaster University Medical Centre...... 10 Random Act of Kindness Day - McMaster Outreach...... 11 SustainableJoes EdTEAM...... 12 Random Act of Kindness...... 13 Student Attitudes Towards Food Waste...... 14 Halton Consumer Food Waste Advocacy Team: Promoting Conscious Consumption...... 15 SustainableJoes: Making Sustainability Easy...... 16
City of Hamilton Bike Parking Inventory and Analysis
Student Authors: Tabbish Aziz, Matthew Halleran, Agstya Kaul & Tom Yang
Overview Reporting
From an environmental perspective, cycling reduces To support our project, the City of Hamilton provided us with detailed greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to fight climate information from their most recent inventory of City-owned bike racks, which change by providing a transportation alternative included bike rack location, condition, capacity, and many other metrics. to motor vehicles.1 In 2015, the City of Hamilton We then utilized geographic information software (GIS) to perform a gap inventoried locations and conditions of all bike racks analysis to see which locations in Hamilton were currently underserviced in Wards 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 within the city, by bicycle parking infrastructure based off a detailed criterion provided to with Wards 4 through 10 nearing completion. The us by the City of Hamilton. After assessing the data provided by the City inventory data provided the opportunity for further and identifying key locations of interest, which include places of worship, analysis and recommendations for improvement. The schools, and malls, seven key bike rack locations have been proposed along main goals of this project are to analyse the data and with justifications for each. Methods to improve the City of Hamilton’s provide the City of Hamilton with recommendations cycling records have been developed in order to increase the accuracy for next steps, specifically with respect to future bike and efficiency of data collection by observing practices carried out by the rack placement and management. When additional City of Toronto. The data gathered over the course of this report has been bike racks are installed, more people will likely use integrated in a GIS database, which shows all existing and potential bike the strategically placed stations, reducing the number racks provided by the City of Hamilton, along with bike racks proposed by of cars on the road. This will lower the air and noise our group. In addition to this integration, demographic data and locations of pollution in Hamilton, and help make this community interest have also been shown in the GIS in conjunction with the bike rack more sustainable.1 information. This map will give the City of Hamilton a clear visual of their bicycle infrastructure throughout the city, and can potentially be used by Objectives the public if they wish to know the locations of bicycle racks in Hamilton. In order to summarize all of the deliverables mentioned above, a proposal report has been submitted to the City of Hamilton. 1. Conduct a gap analysis to identify priority locations for new bike rack installations based on inventory data and detailed criteria provided by the City of Hamilton. 2. Develop a method of organizing and maintaining all inventory data on an ongoing basis. 3. Develop a geographical representation of existing and planned bike racks along with other relevant information, such as population and places of interest. GIS of Existing and Proposed Bike Racks in Wards 1, 2, and 3
Collaborators: We would like to thank our Community Project Champion, Janelle Trant. Janelle was instrumental in providing us with inventory data, acting as a liaison with others at the City of Hamilton, and providing guidance and mentorship throughout. Additional support for our project was provided by Crystal Chan, Teaching Assistant for Sustain 3S03, and Kate Whalen, Senior Manager, Academic Sustainability Programs, McMaster University.
1 Retrieved from Share The Road: http://www.sharetheroad.ca/what-are-the-benefits-to-government-when-they-invest-in-cycling--p128284 4 Community CarShare at McMaster
Student Authors: Rubaid Dhillon, Amanul Haque, Sushen Talwar & Dillon Phoenix
Overview Reporting
Developed in 1998, Community CarShare is a non-profit We surveyed students about their most frequent mode of transportation, co-operative organization that provides carsharing average distance travelled, and familiarity with the different carshare services in several areas in Ontario. The goal of services available. Through the 120 completed surveys, the data showed Community CarShare is to promote carsharing as an that 70% of students do not own a car. Furthermore, 64% are aware of the important component of a sustainable transportation existence of Community CarShare. system thereby reducing traffic congestion and transportation costs. The organization has grown from On November 18th 2015, we two vehicles to sixty-four vehicles. Through this project, organized an event on campus in we aim to inform the students at McMaster University front of University Hall where we about the environmental, social, and economic benefits had representatives from Community of carsharing and thus, resulting in greater use of CarShare to help us promote the carsharing by the McMaster population. organization and our project goals. In order to attract students, one of Objectives the cars from Community CarShare organization was brought to the event and was displayed along with the organization’s banners and posters. 1. Identify current travel preferences and habits as During this event, promotional material, such as $30 discount coupons, well as knowledge and applicability of carsharing and a brief summary of our project were handed out to students. The event to members of the McMaster community. was successful as several students were eager to learn about our project 2. Promote Community CarShare through an initiatives and sign up for Community CarShare. Through this event, valuable interactive event to attract first-time users in the information was obtained about the perceptions and values of the student McMaster community. demographic which was instrumental in discussing the data with Community 3. Partner with an organization with the common goal CarShare for recommendations for future initiatives to increase membership. or mission statement such as Hamilton Bike Share. During the completion of our project, we were also able to get in touch with the Community Manager of Hamilton Bike Share and were able to further promote the sustainability initiatives of the Community CarShare organization through their social network. The Regional Services Coordinator of Community CarShare will keep us informed in terms of the number of customers signed up by January 2016 and this will allow us to further evaluate the success of our project.
Collaborators: We would like to thank our Project Champions Laura Beattie and Jess Webster (currently the Regional Services Coordinator of Community CarShare) for supporting us throughout the project and for providing us with all the promotional material and feedback regarding our ideas. In addition, we would also like to thank the Community Manager of Hamilton Bike Share Chelsea Cox, Kate Whalen and the Academic Sustainability Programs Office for the support and guidance throughout the project. 5 Hamilton Burlington Trails
Student Authors: Geetha Ramachandran, Ibrahim Kareemi, Jasmine Wong, Kritika Badhan & Neil Reu
Overview Reporting
The Hamilton Burlington Trails Council (HBTC) is a Volunteer recruitment was targeted though the design and use of non-profit organization that serves as a trail alliance in posters and social media. In addition, to convey appreciation for our developing an exceptional trail system in the Hamilton thirty volunteers, we planned a volunteer appreciation event, which was and Burlington regions. The HBTC recently launched scheduled to occur on November 12th 2015 at 6:00pm. However, the event their 2015-2016 Trail Use Survey to facilitate the was cancelled due to a low response rate of volunteers. While analyzing the development of a more effective and accessible trail reason behind the failure of the event, we concluded that a hike in Cootes system. The goals of this project were to support the Paradise in November could have deterred the participation of volunteers HBTC in conducting and analyzing their survey as well since it was extremely cold. Therefore, our project champions will now take as to make recommendations for positive change and the plan and use it in April when the event will be rescheduled. trail enhancement. Moreover, to collect more information regarding trail use, each team member attended a weekly 2-hour survey shift in Hamilton and Burlington. Objectives Simultaneously, we inputted all the surveys from May to September 2015 and analyzed the results.
1. Create and implement a volunteer recruitment and The analysis discussed modes of transportation used on trails, prominent engagement strategy to support the collection of reasons for trail use, and trail concerns. The statistics showed that 54.87% survey responses at various Hamilton-Burlington of trail users used the trails for walking, 29.74% for cycling, 8.99% for trail locations. jogging, 4.59% considered other mode, 1.21% had strollers, and 0.60% 2. Engage users of the trail system to provide used wheelchairs/walkers. Furthermore, the analyzed results suggested feedback through the Trail Use Survey that trail users primarily used the trails for exercise, to enjoy nature, and 3. Analyze collected information to identify very rarely for tourism. Since exercise is the most common use of the trails, opportunities for improvement improvements such as distance markers, and simple exercising equipment 4. Present opportunities for trail enhancement that should be implemented. Moreover, Figure 1 displays an increased trail use would result in improved trail use, based on data during summer months and reduced trail use during winter months. The collected from July to September 2015. reason behind reduced trail use in winter could be due to inadequate trail maintenance. Therefore, snow clearance, garbage removal and directional signs should be implemented to ameliorate trail maintenance. These considerations will be taken into account, and appropriately addressed to the council by our project champions.
Collaborators: In collaboration with the HBTC, the team collected surveys, and promoted trail use. We would like to thank our Teaching Assistants Crystal Chan and Elise Desjardins for guidance and support throughout the project. We would also like to thank our project champions Alex and Victoria for providing us with information, resources and guidance pertaining to the project. Last but not least, we would like to thank all the volunteers who collected surveys. To obtain more information about the project please visit our Facebook page, follow us on twitter or visit our website http://hamiltonburlingtontrails.ca. 6 Supporting the Formation of Cycle Hamilton
Student Authors: Miranda Babbitt, Christine Luu, Janine Sziklasi, Kelly Yeung & Syed Zaidi
Overview Reporting
Cycle Hamilton is a community group that emerged in In order to achieve the spring of 2015 to meet the demand for a coordinated Objectives 1 and 2, we effort to advocate for a bike-friendly Hamilton. Cycle developed and held Hamilton’s vision is to increase the amount of safe, a workshop for Cycle confident, and knowledgeable cyclists in Hamilton Hamilton on November by promoting better infrastructure and developing 11th, 2015. This focused partnerships with organizations, community groups, the direction of Cycle and citizens. The aim of this project was to assist in Hamilton’s priorities the development of Cycle Hamilton as a sustainable for the upcoming year community organization with a clear direction. The first through roundtable step of the project was developing a workshop to obtain discussions on a number feedback from community members about what they of infrastructure, societal, would like to see Cycle Hamilton address. The second and organizational issues for cyclists. There were 37 attendees, who were step of the project was producing a one-year action stationed at tables with discussions facilitated by Cycle Hamilton members. plan for Cycle Hamilton that integrated this community We recorded the discussions between the attendees, who were largely feedback into a clear set of objectives. vocal and engaged with the issues at hand, and also provided alternative modes of feedback through a concurrent Twitter campaign and follow-up Objectives survey. The data collected at the workshop informed Objective 3. We developed a 1. Raise awareness by informing the community comprehensive action plan, The Sustainable Formation of Cycle Hamilton: about Cycle Hamilton’s vision of a bike-friendly One-Year Action Plan, which incorporated community feedback from the Hamilton and its goal to support and educate both workshop into a set of objectives to help direct and organize Cycle Hamilton. citizens and policymakers on cycling-related topics The plan includes a brief review of the workshop and suggested priorities for 2. Integrate the input from the cycling community the coming year. Lastly, we included potential projects that future SUSTAIN to steer the organization in a direction that the 3S03 students could work on in partnership with Cycle Hamilton. citizens of Hamilton believe is most in line with the community’s vision 3. Assist in the formation of Cycle Hamilton as a sustainable, non-profit, community organization by developing a clear set of objectives that will support their first year of operation
Collaborators: We worked closely with Cycle Hamilton to develop the topics discussed at the workshop and reported on them in The Sustainable Formation of Cycle Hamilton: One-Year Action Plan. We would like to thank Cycle Hamilton, workshop attendees, and our Community Project Champion, Dave Heidebrecht, for the extremely valuable support.
7 Small Farm Biodiversity and Pollinator Habitat
Student Authors: Hussain Abbas, Duncan Chambers, Liana Glass, Luc Hains & Jordan MacCarthy-Tilley
Overview Reporting
Common Ground Teaching Farm is a small-scale organic We began by conducting a survey of the cultivated and bordering land in farm located in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. As with order to summarize the species of plants, insects, and other fauna that make most farms, Common Ground depends on ecosystem up the farm’s ecosystem. This list included endemic pest insects (such as services, including insect-pollination of flowering crop the Crucifer Flea Beetle and Imported Cabbageworm), as well as pollinator- plants. In line with the principles of organic agriculture, friendly native plants (such as Goldenrod and New England Aster). From this Common Ground does not use synthetic herbicides knowledge base, we were able to research other native plants that would or pesticides, warranting alternative methods of further enhance the ecosystem. We chose plants such as Wild Bergamot pest control. The goal of this project was to increase and Yarrow as habitat components that, when introduced and established, Common Ground’s biodiversity by focusing on three main will attract certain pollinators or predators of pest insects. areas: pollinator attraction and activity, predator-based pest control, and the farm’s supporting infrastructure. A We followed organic more biodiverse surrounding environment will foster a agricultural methods more resilient and productive farm ecosystem. We hope in our efforts to that the methods we employed will apply to, and serve control pests, attract as an example for, other small-scale organic farms. pollinators, and plant beneficial plants. We Objectives built a bee hotel and a bat house in order to house pollinators and 1. Assess the baseline level of biodiversity improve insectivorous 2. Build habitats to attract pollinating insects pest control 3. Build habitats to attract natural predators of respectively, and used Unpainted bat house and completed bee hotel agricultural pest insects untreated scrap wood in the construction of both. We also designed a pond 4. Design and implement infrastructure to encourage to be installed in an area determined by the natural topography and drainage these pollinating insects and natural pest predators of the farm. Next, we acquired seeds from local farmers to grow pollinator and predator-attracting flowers such as Milkweed and Calendula. Finally, we have compiled a report of our findings (i.e., species lists, descriptions, and relationships) and recommendations (regarding implementation and maintenance) to be given to Common Ground for future reference. All of these biodiversity enhancement strategies may be employed and observed further to measure their efficacy over successive seasons.
Collaborators: Support from the owner of Common Ground Teaching Farm, Dr. Michael Mikulak, and non-academic supervisor Kate Whalen, Senior Manager of Academic Sustainability Programs. Notable mention goes to Michael Mikulak and Laura Anderson for providing aid and assistance while implementing changes to the farm, and Julia Hitchcock for sharing her seeds, plants, and stories with us.
8 Communicating Sustainability in Healthcare Setting
Student Authors: Ahmad Zubair Banoor, Joshua Del Gobbo & Srishti Harnal
Overview Reporting
Waste management is an important issue to healthcare. On Monday September 28th, our group visited the Charlton campus. The Improper management of waste products can pose group toured the waste management holding and handling area, and health risks to patients, staff, visitors, and members from this learned that an elephant’s weight (or 2.5 tonnes) of waste is of the community. St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton produced on average at the Charlton campus each day. We also reviewed (SJHH) seeks to minimize the impact health operations the ‘365 Days of Green’ campaign posters released in late 2014 by SJHH’s have on human health by managing waste sustainably. Environmental Cooperative Program (ECO). Our project goals were to With several new initiatives in place, SJHH has created complement the ‘365 Days of Green’ campaign posters by analyzing a communications strategy to keep its staff informed the 2014 waste audit of the Charlton campus and determining the most and engaged in the collective effort to recycle, as viable waste reduction initiatives to be placed on the posters we would well as to reduce and dispose of waste properly. With design. A poster template was created to ensure all posters followed the support from the Waste Management and Sustainability branding protocols of the ECO program. With guidance from our CPC, we Department at SJHH, our project aims to increase then decided on the 15 waste reduction topics that would be addressed recycling and reduce waste through informative posters individually on the posters. These topics ranged from: ‘Turn off the lights,’ displayed to hospital staff. Measures of success will be ‘What is not biohazardous waste,’ and ‘Turning off computer screens.’ evaluated through location-specific waste audits. While continuously designing our posters, we began preparing ways to assess the staff’s understanding of our posters. Due to incidents of improper Objectives sorting of recycling in the operating rooms (ORs), our CPC advised that we complete a recycling audit to understand if the newly implemented OR recycling containers and info-posters are effective. While the posters were 1. Create a package of up to 15 informative posters not created by the group, the posters are part of the same ECO Program that will assist SJHH staff understanding of proper messaging campaign. Implemented in 6 of 13 ORs, the new recycling recycling and waste disposal practices, as outlined hampers contain an info-poster on the lid, instructing the user to not recycle by the Environmental Cooperative Program (ECO) gloves and pictures of recyclable material. Recycling was collected over 2. Ensure the availability of posters relating to waste an 8 hour period from the ORs and put aside to sort. On December 1st, the and sustainability topics to staff and general public team audited the recycling hampers and determined that the ORs without 3. Assess staff and general public understanding info-posters produced 62.3% more recycling waste than the ORs that had of waste and sustainability topics after creation info-posters on the hampers. Furthermore, the group analyzed that hampers and distribution of posters, through quantitative without info-posters contained 155% more contaminated waste. Therefore, assessment of waste generation it was concluded that notifying the hospital staff by means of educational posters is an effective way to communicate the proper recycling methods within the hospital.
Collaborators: Collaborators involved in this project include our Sustainability 3S03 group: Ahmad Zubair Banoor (Honours Life Sciences, Faculty of Science), Joshua Del Gobbo (Honours Kinesiology, Faculty of Science), and Srishti Harnal (Honours Biology & Pharmacology Co-op, Faculty of Science). We gratefully acknowledge the support and guidance of our Community Project Champion Victoria Brzozowski, Sustainability & Waste Management Coordinator at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, with her knowledge and novel experience of the waste management sector at SJHH that she provided us with. 9 Waste Management Initiative at McMaster University Medical Centre
Student Authors: Negin Balaghi, Zaki Bayat, Christian Monti, Mansi Patel & Hiba Shah
Overview Reporting
The perioperative services department at McMaster In the first phase of this project and in order to assess the status of University Medical Centre (MUMC), comprising of the recycling practices prior to implementing any changes at the site, our team operating room (OR), same day surgery (SDS), post conducted interviews with four main categories of staff in contact with the anesthetic care unit, and the pre-operative clinic, is a perioperative services department waste generation and handling. After large generator of unique recyclable materials. One of gathering initial information from nurses, environmental aides, health care the main criteria in recycling is to avoid mixing non- aides, and waste operator site lead, an initial visual audit was compiled recyclables and recyclables into a recycling container, to study the quantity, nature, and composition of the recyclable materials otherwise all recyclables are considered contaminated generated in the four areas of focus in the hospital and to understand how and cannot be handled in accordance to the legislation this recycling is being managed. As per our findings, surgeries, therefore the and disposal standards. In order to address this OR and SDS, are known to account for the majority of the waste produced principle and to discretely address the concerns of the by the hospital per unit operation. In order to ensure a sustainable change staff regarding recycling practices in the perioperative to recycling practices, we designed and implemented a unified poster, services department, a unified poster was required to addressing primarily the materials handled in the perioperative service be designed and distributed across all wards within the department of the hospital. By presenting the poster to the wards within the perioperative department. perioperative services, we were able to play a part in increasing awareness among staff about existing waste disposal issues, engage the team in Objectives identifying the most beneficial solutions and discuss available improvement opportunities as part of future phases of our project. During our final visit of MUMC in December, going through a number of recycling bags, we 1. Identify existing gaps in effective recycling noted correct identification of a lot of recyclable items in comparison to the practices at MUMC perioperative services samples collected previously. Upon the success of this project and with the department compared to leading healthcare recommendations systems in Ontario presented in the 2. Propose solutions for improvement, with a focus on project report, we proper recycling education hope to see enhanced 3. Develop an effective mode of communication to recycling equipment educate and relay information about sustainable (e.g. visible recycling recycling practices bins with proper lids 4. Conduct pre and post implementation visual in place, unified clear recycling reviews and analyze the impact of the bags, etc.) across HHS new communication plan in improving proper in the near future. recycling habits From left to right – Mansi Patel, Rosemary Van Oostrom, Sandy McLean, Negin Balaghi Collaborators: Much appreciation goes to our project champion, Rosemary Van Oostrom, Waste Management Coordinator of the Hamilton Health Sciences team for her constant support and guidance throughout this project. Special thanks to Sandy McLean, our amazing clinical leader for her mentorship and support.
10 Random Act of Kindness Day® (RAK) – McMaster Outreach
Student Authors: Morgan Brauer, Hannah Hinchey & Jonathon Tonietto
Overview Reporting
This project was initiated with the aim to instill To build excitement leading positivity and joy through acts of kindness in up to the event, we created communities surrounding Grand & Toy’s (G&T) offices a social media presence by across Canada. Members from G&T distributed making a Facebook group, positivity cards, performed acts of kindness such as high which reached over 200 fives, holding doors for individuals, as well as collected participants. When RAK Day food donations for local charities. Originally, RAK occurred, members of the Day started when one of the foundations volunteer’s McMaster community joined was given a free parking pass from an anonymous individuals from G&T and individual. The common theme that RAK Day and the other communities all across “Pay it Forward” movement share is to create social the country taking part in the sustainability through genuine acts of helping others initiative. Volunteers from without expecting incentives of any kind. These actions across Canada took part in help to restore childhood optimism and aim to create activities geared toward human connection through individual interactions. the promotion of actions On November 6th 2016, the McMaster Community that instilled positivity and happiness. Our group procured a spot in the participated in RAK Day. middle of McMaster’s Student Centre where we hung a “kindness tree” for people to leave their ”leafs” containing positive messages and ideologies, Objectives envisioned or witnessed. We were able to collect 235 leafs for the tree. The group utilized the location in the Student Centre to interact with traffic traveling through the space between classes and persons waiting in lines 1. Identify opportunities to promote McMaster’s RAK for services. Throughout the day, our group handed out over 400 cards Day through social media, leading up to and on the containing inspirational messages, over 400 pieces of candy as well as day of the event demonstrated positive actions towards a range of individuals. The ways in 2. Share the Pay it Forward message through taking which intangible happiness was analyzed included the trending of tweets part in RAK Day at McMaster on November 6th, on the day of the event, the reactions received to the kind actions and gifts, 2015 in addition to the reactions viewed during our interactions with people 3. Quantify the results of individuals impacted by RAK throughout the day. Individuals were leaving after interacting with group Day at McMaster members noticeably more cheerful and the group witnessed a few embrace the idea of paying it forward. Media played a big factor in our event, and we concluded by holding a contest to promote RAK where six participants won McMaster shirts donated for the event.
Collaborators: We would like to thank our Community Project Champions: Serguei Tchertok, Sustainability Manager at Grand & Toy, and Tiffany Scott, Business Development Manager at Grand & Toy for providing the handouts and supplies for the event as well as guiding us throughout the semester. Finally, we would like to thank the other Random Act of Kindness Day® Internal group for all of their help and support on the Day.
11 SustainableJoes EdTEAM
Student Authors: Ashley Darch, Andre Marini, Melina Ralph & Hayya Usmani
Overview Reporting
In collaboration with SustainableJoes, a module series EdTeam began by meeting SustainableJoes’ founder, Stephen Szucs, was created to complement SustainableJoes’ current to identify the goals for the project. Four modules were identified and documentary project. This module series ensures agreed upon for the EdTeam’s focus: Sustainability at Large, Water and “student-centred” learning through a topic centred Wastewater, Sustainability and Business, and Good Governance. Following interactive framework, which incorporates interviews this, preliminary investigations were conducted into the Ontario grade 11 with sustainability experts and concept illustration. The and 12 curriculum. This allowed the team to identify the baseline of the EdTeam’s intention is to enable professors to easily sustainability knowledge young adults would have prior to viewing the implement sustainability focused curriculum into their modules. Further investigations were conducted to identify the optimum classrooms that is educational, engaging, entertaining, methods of educational practices. It was discovered that a “student- empowering, and makes sustainability easy for ‘all centred” learning approach and visually rich content would be required to everyday Joes’. insure SustainableJoes’ message was properly received.
Objectives From there, The EdTeam moved on to creating the four modules, beginning first by watching the raw footage of the SustainableJoes documentary. Templates were then created for each module. These templates identified 1. From the current hazards and concerns that people key themes, topics, concepts, and interviews that each module would need are facing, to the practical solutions individuals to contain. As superior quality would be required for each module to ensure and communities are implementing, this module a professional look, Stephen was provided a list of businesses and schools series is meant to educate young adults in how that could complete this task. sustainability looks today 2. To spread sustainability awareness in such a way that it becomes realistic and attainable for everyday individuals
Collaborators: We would like to thank Stephen Szucs, founder of SustainableJoes, for the opportunity to work on this module series.
12 Random Act of Kindness Day
Student Authors: Omar Balbaa, Charlie Coe & Sandra Hernandez
Overview Reporting
The Canadian subsidiary of Office Depot, Grand & Toy The project’s main focus was the creation of a Random Act of Kindness Limited (G&T), founded in 1882, wanted to improve their day on November 6th 2015 alongside Grand & Toy, while focusing on corporate culture by enhancing the relationships across internal engagement across agencies as well as on each individual location their branches as well as internally. This was done by with their respective communities. Internal and external engagement implementing a “Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Day” was discussed with all locations involved ensuring its completion. which was held on November 6, 2015. It consisted of Communication such as emails, Facebook and Twitter announcements doing good deeds for others in the community and/or along with delivery of kindness trees and supplies were done as scheduled. encouraging one another through kind notes posted on The project was deemed successful as nine out of the twelve locations a “kindness tree”. The main objective was to improve contacted participated in the event. Four event locations participated the relationships between various branches across the internally and externally through the use of the kindness tree and donations country internally (between the employees at G&T) to their local food banks or shelters. In addition, five locations participated and externally (between G&T, their customers and actively in the community by distributing candy, hamburgers, recycled bags other community members). Although this is the first and, cards to members of their communities. time Grant & Toy attempted to host the Random Act of Kindness Day, the hopes are for it to continue yearly and There was a remarkable response and online participation with the Grant become a long-term commitment to their associates and & Toy RAK event as the potential number of people reached was 139 000. the community. There were 538 interactions between Grand & Toy and their online users that day. Page impressions jumped from an average of 2.6 thousand to 5.8 Objectives thousand on the day of the event. On Twitter, the Grand & Toy page received over 80 tweets and through Facebook, there were 123 new likes from the 9000 users that accessed the page on the day of. 1. Engage all Canadian locations of G&T offices to participate in Random Act of Kindness Day The survey that was conducted from the employees in G&T showed 2. Measure the impact of the event through clear benefits to holding a Random Act of Kindness day. From the participation and community involvement on social surveys conducted after the event, we found that over 60% of the people media participating felt that RAK day affected their day in a positive way. Almost 3. Conduct an online survey at all participating and 70% of participants would like to have it happen again in the coming years, non-participating Grand & Toy locations to obtain and are inclined to pay it forward due to this event. feedback and make recommendations for future Random Acts of Kindness events on years to come
Collaborators: We would like to thank our Community Project Champions: Serguei Tchertok, Sustainability Manager at Grand & Toy, and Tiffany Scott, Business Development Manager at Grand & Toy.
13 Student Attitudes Towards Food Waste
Student Authors: Komal Aryal, Aqsa Arshad, Mackenzie Kretz, Nikhil Kumar & Pauline Varona
Overview Reporting
In this era of urbanization and unprecedented The survey was conducted in person using paper copies for high school population growth, waste production and management students, and an electronic version for university students. We were able is a pressing concern. In particular, food waste is a to meet our target of 50 responses from each group, allowing us to move colossal issue, with almost one-third of the food fit for forward with the data analysis to identify attitudinal differences between consumption wasted annually.1 Canada is one of the Robert Bateman High School and McMaster Ron Joyce Center students. One worst offenders when it comes to this, with roughly $31 immediate observation is that the majority of responses from both groups billion of food thrown out each year.1 It is important claimed to waste up to or less than 19 percent of food on a weekly basis. to understand where students stand on this matter, Of this, high school students believed that leftovers comprised most of as they are part of the next generation, and the ones their food waste. University students felt similarly; however, they believed who will ultimately face the consequences of these that fruits and vegetables were equally wasted. One significant difference issues. As such, this project focused on high-school and between the two demographics was with regards to their attitudes towards university students within Halton Region to determine household food waste. It was reported that 44 percent of university students their opinions on food waste. Specifically, we wanted to said that it caused them a great deal of discontent, whereas only 12 percent identify demographic differences, and critically examine of high school students felt the same. In spite of this, both groups only potential downfalls to proposed solutions. This was made ‘somewhat’ of an effort to cut down on the amount of waste they done by conducting a survey with the target audience to generate. The two sets agreed that the biggest reason for food waste gather feedback for further analysis. generation is due to food being forgotten in the fridge. In order to overcome food waste as an issue, both demographics felt that the best strategy would Objectives be to use conscientious.
1. Identify attitudinal differences between different demographic groups on the topic of food waste 2. Determine potential barriers against the implementation of food waste reduction programs among consumers 3. Educate consumers about food waste production issues, as well as reduction strategies
Collaborators: Special thanks goes to our Community Project Champion, Anna DeMarchi-Meyers, Agricultural Liaison Officer at Halton Region, for providing guidance and mentorship instrumental to our group’s success. Our project would not have been possible without her approval and feedback. As well, we thank Shannon Bowden, Head of Math and Science at Robert Bateman High School, for connecting us to students to take part in our survey.
1 Gooch, M., Felfel, A., & Glasbey, C. (2014, December) Food Waste in Canada – $27 Billion Revisited. Value Chain Management Center. Retrieved from http:// vcm-international.com/new-report-annual-food-waste-in-canada-is-31-billion/ 14 Halton Consumer Food Waste Advocacy Team: Promoting Conscious Consumption
Student Authors: Sarah Dzin, Sohana Farhin, Agatha Maciaszek, Varun Muddaluru & Aheen Mukherjee
Overview Reporting
Food is a vital component for life, however one-third We successfully executed the objectives of the project by raising awareness of food produced for human consumption is lost or and learning about consumer food waste attitudes and behaviours. First, our wasted globally. Our experiential learning project team performed a literature review of articles and video materials pertaining focused on the problem of food waste at the consumer to consumer food waste in the United States, Canada, and Europe. We level, as Canadian households are responsible for used information from the articles and videos to create a brochure and 47% of the total $31 billion wasted on this problem presentation board to raise awareness, and a survey to learn about across the country. We aspired to understand consumer food waste attitudes. widespread consumer values and behaviours through the implementation of a survey while simultaneously, To target consumers in the Halton Region, the team approached Longo’s raising awareness on this issue. Influencing individual’s and Farmer Jack’s Market in the Fairview and Guelph Line neighbourhood to become conscious consumers was realized through to set up a kiosk and conduct the survey. The survey was approved by the the dissemination of a brochure, a visual presentation McMaster Ethics Board and we obtained appropriate insurance coverage board combined with an effective dialogue. in order to conduct our survey on-site. Between November 21st to the 28th, we connected with and distributed brochures to over 150 customers at Objectives Longo’s and Farmer Jack’s Market. Furthermore, we surveyed 26 customers at Longo’s, 18 at Farmer Jack’s Market, and an additional 13 residents from Halton region. Following our community engagement and data 1. Create awareness about consumer food waste collection, we analyzed the survey results to find correlations between 2. Survey grocery store customers in the Halton various demographic categories (age, gender, income, marital status, and Region to identify consumer attitudes household composition) and food waste patterns. A major finding was that 3. Analyze and interpret survey results and exhibit young adults (25-44 years old) disposed of food based on the expiration them in an Executive Summary date labels, while the primary considerations for respondents 65 and over 4. Present project overview, survey results, and were appearance, texture and/or smell of the food. Younger individuals are suggest food waste reduction programs to the dependent on labels to determine freshness and the older generation relies Halton Food Council on their senses, associated with the fact that many individuals 65 or older may not have grown up with widespread food labels. The survey results and recommended next steps were described in an Executive Summary, and the results of which were formally presented to council members of the Halton Food Council.
Collaborators: We would like to thank our Community Project Champions, Moira Matsubuchi-Shaw and Anna De- Marchi-Meyers who are members of the Halton Food Council (HFC), for guiding us throughout the semester. Moira provided us with quality literature materials, efficiently critiqued our documents, and composed a letter of recognition to provide our proof of collaboration with the HFC. We would also like to thank Longo’s and Farmer Jack’s in the Fairview and Guelph Line neighbourhood in Burlington. These retailers provided us with a platform to raise awareness on the issue and learn about consumer attitudes and behaviours towards food waste. And last, but not least, we would like to thank all of the individuals 15 who took the time to connect with us and complete our survey. SustainableJoes: Making Sustainability Easy
Student Authors: Alexandra Crone, Nicole Vandenheuvel, Samantha Wright & Christine Yachouh
Overview Reporting
SustainableJoes is an organization founded by Stephen The online campaign took place during the first week of December 2015 Szucs with the goal of making sustainability easy for and promoted the anticipated release of the SustainableJoes documentary “everyday Joes.” In December of 2015, SustainableJoes and the new Clear Conscience Cards initiative. Each post utilized eye- is releasing a documentary as a part of an edutainment catching graphics with sustainability facts and words of encouragement for series in hopes to make sustainability more accessible practicing sustainability. Clear Conscience Cards were used as an incentive and understandable. This portion of the project to further encourage social media participation and advertise the new coordinated a marketing campaign to promote the project. Followers who reached out to SustainableJoes accounts and utilized release of the SustainableJoes documentary and their the campaign’s hashtag #SustainableU were entered to win free Clear new Clear Conscience Card initiative. The majority of Conscience Cards. During the week of the campaign there were drastic our marketing campaign relied on creating a social increases in social media compared to the month prior. Furthermore, over media presence through websites such as Twitter and 100 Clear Conscience Cards were sold during the week of the campaign. The Facebook. Our goal was that through creating a social social media campaign helped to educate social media users on sustainable media presence we would be able to promote the ideals life practices by directing them to resources on sustainability, and was of SustainableJoes while simultaneously helping to monitored by the amount of engagements on SustainableJoes posts. educate people on how to live more sustainably. This social media campaign was important for advertising the SustainableJoes project but more so for creating a dialogue online among social media users about what it means to be sustainable.
Objectives
1. Educate and engage social media users on sustainable life practices 2. Increase social media presence through the use of hashtags, graphic images and relatable facts Behind the scenes photo taken from SustainableJoes social media to advertise SustainableJoes and advocate for interview with Captain Paul Watson, which will be featured in the sustainable lifestyles documentary. Seen interviewing the Captain are Stephen Szucs 3. Continental outreach within the campaign; with a and Samantha Wright focus on Canada and the United States
Collaborators: Special thanks goes to Community Project Champion, the founder of SustainableJoes: Stephen Szucs for providing information, support, and mentorship; our Education Team: Ashley Darch, Andre Marini, Melina Ralph, and Hayya Usmani and our Academic Sustainability Programs Office liaison: Kate Whalen.
16 To download a pdf version of this report please visit asp.mcmaster.ca Designed by the Academic Sustainability Programs Office